Randall King (2025)

One Liner:  Pure country in a classic sense but from a new guy

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but country

Home: Amarillo

Poster Position: 3 (14) 
Both Weekends.
Sunday at 1:30.

Thoughts:  Part of the 2023 ACL lineup who has joined his fellow country friends here in the Two Step Club.

I am guessing this is not the American-born former professional tennis player that Wikipedia wants to tell me all about.  Because it would be surprising to me if the guy singing this straight-forward Nashvillian country was ever playing tennis professionally for Hong Kong in the Davis Cup.

Several of his photos online make me laugh - like he practiced for SO LONG in the mirror just the perfect smirking half-smile that would match his cowboy hat brim.  It is too excellent.  The music itself is pure country traditionalism.  A man raised on King George, Garth, and Alan, and now here to hew as closely as possible to that world like a hip-hugging pair of Rocky Mountains painted on to a line-dancing queen.  His website bio says that he grew up "on the endless plains of West Texas," and says that he grew up emulating Keith Whitley, George Strait, Alan Jackson, and John Anderson.  Two out of four for my guesses!  I was really hoping that somewhere it would tell me he is from Dallas, or something, so that I could make fun of people not understanding Texas geography again.  Sadly, he's from Amarillo, and while that is pretty dang north in Texas, I'd also agree with the fact that when people say west Texas, that includes Amarillo (while "north Texas" is more of DFW and surrounding areas).  No less than the Texas Dept. of Transportation agrees.

Three albums - 2018's Randall King, 2022's Shot Glass, and 2024's Into the Neon - and a handful of EPs over the years.  His top streamer is from that second album - "You in a Honky Tonk" with 40.2 million streams.

I mean, you know what you are getting in the first three seconds - that is 100% an old school country tune.  Loogit that smirking smile as he's singing!  Cracking me up how perfect that is.  I have to say, this takes me back to some good times in college dancing at a shitty honky-tonk bar (not that I was dancing with skill that was even in the 10th percentile of how those dudes are throwing the ladies around in that video).

HIs cover of "I'll Fly Away" is straight up beautiful.  And to add to the beauty (and sadness), here is a little tidbit he has said about it: "King's cover of the gospel classic "I'll Fly Away," which appears on his 2020 EP, is the song he was singing when his sister Leanna died.  "When she passed, she was in the ICU, and me and all my family were gathered around an oak tree — only my dad could be in there [with her]," King recalls. "He sort of put us on speakerphone, laid it by her head. Me and the whole family sang gospel songs for about 45 minutes, and then we get into that song, and that's when she went.""  Sad stuff, but it really is a lovely song.

His second-biggest streamer is from the first album.  "Mirror Mirror," with 20.7 million streams and another purely country sound.

Did he sing about the mirror because of how much time he had spent practicing that smirk/smile thing in the mirror and it was his best friend?  Inquiring minds.

The brand new disc brings the same stuff - a little cheese, a pure country voice, the usual assortment of instruments and sound - without any fluff or weird rap turbulence.  The big track from it is "Burns Like Her," and I know you can easily guess that this is a metaphor for a drink that will burn a hole in his throat.  19.6 million streams.

Sounds like Nashville to me, Pop.  

This is reminding me of the Midland dudes who are so purely traditional that it takes me back to the things I fell in love with in the 90's.  I'm sure if I dug through his catalog, I'd find some mention of TIGHT FITTIN' JEANS DRIVIN' ME CRAAAAZEEEE! or something, but after listening along to these albums a few times, I'm enjoying it.